Today I was at ShopKo with the 4 younger kids, basically killing time for 1 1/2 hours while the others were doing the testing for school. They had been mostly good, but Lincoln was a typical 2 year old pulling things off shelves into the cart anytime he could reach something. At one point, right near the end of our shopping trip, he grabbed a spatula set out of a bin. I pulled it out of his hands and tossed it back and said "No." Not a mad no, but a "I've had enough and you better knock it off" no. He knew he was in trouble and started to cry/throw a fit. I moved up to push the front cart with Adam in it, Jeanisha was pushing Lincoln right behind me, and Eli was walking right behind her. My cell phone rang. It was my friend who was just picking up her son from testing and I knew she would be updating me about whether my kids were done. As I'm talking to her, this really rude, obnoxious man, a total stranger, walks up to me and says (insert snappy tone), "Lady, don't you think you should stop yapping on your phone and take care of your kids. One of them is crying, in case you didn't notice."
I responded that he was throwing a fit because I had just taken something away from him. He responded, "I know, I saw that too, and you didn't handle that very well either. The way you took it away was unacceptable."
I was speechless. As he walked off, he muttered, loudly, "Some people just don't know how to be parents."
I just wanted to scream or at least think of a smart aleck comeback!!!! But now, a few hours later, it's quite funny. I'd love to trade him places for an hour or two (at the store) and see how he handles it!
Summer Days
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Life has shifted into a different gear now that school is out, but we are
still very busy.
I have been working on sorting and organizing some of the clutt...
6 years ago
4 comments:
Well I'm not a mom yet but I deal with 15 4 year olds on a daily basis and guess what they throw fits! You have to ignore it or your giving into them way to stick to your guns Janet! Some people reallocate to think before they speak!
He probably does not have kids. They always have the "best" advice for those of us with kids. By the way I was the friend and we were on the phone maybe 5 minutes.
I wonder when he teaches his parenting classes. He obviously has lots of experience dealing with kids. Ha.
Oh Janet as if I need to tell you what an amazing mom you are but I will anyway. You inspire me to do better. He was probably mad about one of his own kid's parenting and just had to take it out on someone. I'm sorry it had to be you. Keep smiling and just remember we all know you better. :)
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